The American President #7: Andrew Jackson

Please feel free to add anything you want about Andrew Jackson

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Two-term President: March 4, 1829-March 4, 1837

- Vice-President John C Calhoun and Martin van Buren

-Election of 1828: Electoral vote Jackson 178; John Quincy Adams 83 (popular vote 647,286 - 508,064)

-Election of 1832: Electoral vote Jackson 219; Henry Clay 49; otheer 18; Popular vote 687,502 - 530,189

-Born March 15, 1767 in Waxhaw region along North/South Carolina border

-Died June 8, 1845, at the Hermitage, Tennessee

-Nickname: Old Hickory - earned from his leadership during the war of 1812

-Presbyterian; Democrat; no higher education; Lawer and soldier

-Johnson had a tough life, his father died before he was born, and he was slashed on the face by a British officer when, as a boy, he refused to polish his boots. He would hold that grudge his entire life, saying everytime he shaved he was reminded how much he hated the British.

-Known for his quick temper, Jackson was involved in numerous 'duels' - some simple and just a little threatening, others with deadly consequences. Jackson killed one man in a duel after being shot first, and the bullet remained in him his entire life.

-In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act which basically said Indians from the Southeast would be moved to Oklahoma (we wanted the gold)

- Supreme Court Justice John Marshall wrote that Georgia had no authority to do this, in Worcester Vs. State of Georgia, but Georgia and President Jackson felt otherwise, thus the Trail Of Tears happened when nearly 25% of the Cherokee tribe died while marching to Oklahoma.

-Jackson was lucky to survive not one but two misfires from a would be assassain, Richard Lawrence - the man attempted to shoot Jackson from close range and both times misfired, with Jackson repeatedly belting him on the head with his cane until help arrived. Lawrence was declared legally insane and spent his entire life in an insane asylum.

-Jackson oversaw the end of the national bank, of which he thought was totally corrupt, but found tons of problems in doing so and creating many smaller regional banks.

-The battle of the Alamo happened on March 6, 1836, when troops under Mexican President General Santa Anna ended a 13 day siege. 189 defenders died including former Tennessee congressman Davey Crockett. Their deaths led to the rallying cries of 'remember the Alamo!' which ultimately led to the independence of Texas.

-sidenotes-

-National debt is 337,000
-26 states in the union
-Jackson is on the $20 bill
-1830 - Frenchman Barthelemy Thimmonier invents first practical sewing machine
-1830 - In pAris, revolutionaries depose Charles X and he is replaced by the duc d'Orleans
-1831 - US population is at 13 million, which outnumbers Britain
-1831 - Charles Darwin departs for the Galapogos Islands
-1832 - the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence dies (Charles Carroll of Maryland) at age 95
-1834 - Mt Vesuvias erupts
-1835- Alexis de Tocqueville publishes Democracy in America